DROWNING POOL & FOZZY @ The Garage

Drowning Pool, Fozzy & Revoker

@ The Relentless Garage

24th April 2013

Review by Anna Dumpe

When it was announced that the nu-metal masters Drowning Pool will be paying a visit to London’s Relentless Garage, it was more than clear that those who truly enjoy going a little crazy while listening to “Bodies” are in for a treat. To make it even better, it was confirmed that Drowning Pool will be sharing the stage with Fozzy and Revoker, so there was no chance we could have missed such a show.
The opening band tonight is Welsh metallers Revoker who instantly manage to create a rocking energy and get the crowd going.
It’s clear to see that these guys are no beginners. With massive shows, like the Jagermeister tour with Ghost, Gojira and The Defiled and appearances with artists like Rob Zombie and Cavalera Conspiracy under their belt, these guys come across as absolute professionals.

Revoker

The singer Jamie Mathias demonstrates his impressive vocal abilities that perfectly suit the kind of heavy metal Revoker perform. Their overall sound is energetic, pumping and highly influenced by bands like Pantera and Metallica. However, they have their original approach to it by adding some rather epic riffs and even more epic drumming.

Revoker

Tonight their songs like “The Great Pretender” and “Stay Down” go down as absolute crowd pleasers.
The performance of “Psychoville” marks one of tonight’s highlights, as it sounds massive and makes everyone go a bit nuts.

Revoker

They finish their set with “Born to be an Outlaw” absolutely owning the crowd and leaving the best of impressions.
You will surely be hearing of these Welsh lads in the near future, so make sure you catch Revoker whenever they roll into a town near you.

Revoker

Setlist:

Thief
The Great Pretender
Hands of Justice
Psychoville
Stay Down
Born To Be An Outlaw

Next up are the highly anticipated and rather legendary Fozzy – the band with an extremely great and loyal fanbase, yet quite a few deniers as well. Fozzy is one of those “love them or hate them” bands.

Fozzy

Fronted by the WWF legend Chris Jericho himself, Fozzy have created a recognizable name and image for themselves.
Tonight Chris Jericho arrives on stage “all guns blazing” and puts on a show that can only Chris Jericho pull off. It would be rather hard for other front men to copy his stage presence and style, as most of them would end up looking like absolute idiots. But it’s Chris Jercho, once again, and he’s here to do ‘his’ thing.

Fozzy

A great deal of tonight’s audience seem to be here to see specifically Fozzy, as the house is packed out and taken over by an army of excited fans in Fozzy t-shirts.

Fozzy

No matter how cheesy and theatrical their appearance might seem, Fozzy put on a great show where songs like “Sandpaper” and “She’s My Addiction” from their latest album Sin and Bones earn the greatest of crowd reactions. Songs like “Shine Forever” and “God Pound His Nails” have a real groove to them and sounds immense when performed live. To end their set, Fozzy throw in some obvious classics like “To Kill a Stranger” and “Enemy”.

Fozzy

Even if you are not a massive fan of their music, it is worth seeing Fozzy live, as the crowd reaction at their shows is just phenomenal. Like it or not, Fozzy stand strong as a band with a real tight and dedicated fan-base that other bands could only dream of.

Drowning Pool storm the stage full of energy and enthusiasm. Kicking thing off with “Step Up” from Desensitized the band seems to be in a great shape and the new singer Jasen Moreno proves himself as a competent newcomer.

Drowning Pool

Drowning Pool lads raise the energy level with each song and during “Die For Nothing,” from their latest album Resilience, a massive mosh-pit breaks out, reminding us that we’re nowhere else, but a nu-metal show.

Drowning Pool

To balance out the set and cool down the atmosphere, Drowning Pool throw in “37 Stitches” just to emphasize the talent of their new singer Jasen Moreno and show off that he’s more than capable of performing any kind of Drowning Pool past material.
One of tonight’s winners is the classic tune “Tear Away” making the crowd go crazy and bringing in some serious and moody groove.

Drowning Pool

Songs from the new album Resilience are accepted surprisingly well and the audience seems to be familiar with all its material, as songs like “One Finger and a Fist” and “Saturday Night” go down great and are real sing-along anthems.

Drowning Pool

The drummer Mike Luce makes tonight’s performance a lot more entertaining by not only beating the hell out of his drum kit, but also interacting with the audience and keeping the jokes coming in-between songs.

Drowning Pool

So after an absolute energy storm that Drowning Pool brought to London tonight, it’s time for that one song that made so many people fall in love with this band and come down to the show tonight. “Bodies” stand out as a truly unique song and the place goes absolutely crazy within the first chords. Revoker boys join Drowning Pool on stage to sing along and celebrate the end of a successful UK tour while the audience absolutely destroys the place to a point that all you can see is actual human bodies being thrown against each other.

Drowning Pool

Tonight’s show has been a great reminder that nu-metal is still an evolving genre, as Drowning Pool are back in the game as strong as ever and sounding great. Make sure you check out their latest record Resilience that’s out now via Eleven Seven Music.

Drowning Pool

Setlist:

Intro
Step Up
Sinner
Think
Pity
Die for Nothing
37 Stitches
Follow
Told You So
Tear Away
One Finger and a Fist
Saturday Night
Feel Like I Do
Bodies